Fix Tennis Errors on the Ball
First published on 9-09-2009. Bookmark & share
by Randy Lynn Rutledge - a previously certified USPTA Tennis Teaching Professional
( Note: retired in good standing, but stopped making USPTA dues payments )
( Note: retired in good standing, but stopped making USPTA dues payments )
This article offers specific details to fix the three basic tennis errors.
Imagine that the tennis ball has vertical and horizontal lines like a world globe.
Learn to improve your tennis accuracy by making better decisions when choosing an exact contact spot on the tennis ball which is correct, both vertically and horizontally, according to the desired net clearance, angle, racquet head speed, and measured properly for distance to the landing area.
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Use functional variations of racquet speed (a factor to control depth in the court), racquet bevel (a factor to control net clearance), and footwork (a factor to position the shoulders to accommodate ball flight angles).
Make Vertical Racquet Face Bevel Adjustments to fix Net Errors and Long Errors
Bevel the racquet face up or down to change the vertical initial contact spot on the tennis ball to fix net errors and long errors.
Change the degree of low-to-high or high-to-low of the tennis racquet path to expose a different vertical initial contact spot on the tennis ball and cause change in the height of the ball flight.
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Fix Net Errors
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Bevel the racquet face up more to make initial contact with a lower vertical point on the tennis ball to fix net errors; reduce the racquet speed as needed to maintain a consistent ball landing depth in the court.
Note: As the net clearance of a tennis ball struck relatively flat increases, the racquet speed must decrease (up to a certain height) to maintain a consistent ball landing depth in the court.
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Fix Long Errors
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Bevel the racquet face down more to make initial contact with a higher vertical point on the tennis ball to fix long errors; increase the racquet speed as needed to maintain a consistent ball landing depth in the court.
Note: As the net clearance of tennis balls struck relatively flat decreases, the racquet speed must increase to maintain a consistent ball landing depth in the court.
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Make Horizontal Racquet Face Adjustments (earlier or later contact) to fix Wide Errors
Note: The path of the tennis racquet and its speed are variable factors to be considered when horizontally adjusting the initial contact spot on the tennis ball.
Use footwork and shoulder turn adjustments to position the tennis racquet for an initial horizontal contact spot on the tennis ball which is more to the left or more to the right to eliminate wide errors which are due to early or late ball contact.
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More About Too Early & Too Late Points of Contact
Too early and too late refers to the flight of the oncoming tennis ball with respect to an intended string-to-ball contact point which would have sent the tennis ball straight ahead to a desired targets of net clearance and angle.
Too early and too late refers to the flight of the oncoming tennis ball with respect to an intended string-to-ball contact point which would have sent the tennis ball straight ahead to a desired targets of net clearance and angle.
A string-to-ball point of contact which is too late meets the tennis ball farther away from the target than intended. The string-to-ball point of contact happened earlier in the stroke than intended. The main cause of this type of error is usually using too much shoulder turn away from the target. Use better footwork to position the shoulders more precisely.
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Early String-to-ball Contact Point
A tennis stroke which positions the tip of your tennis racquet closer to the target than the butt of the racquet at the point of string-to-ball contact causes an early contact point.
A tennis stroke which positions the tip of your tennis racquet closer to the target than the butt of the racquet at the point of string-to-ball contact causes an early contact point.
Fix a wide error which has been caused by a too early contact by increasing the amount of shoulder turn away from the net, this positions the tennis racquet so that the tip and butt of the racquet will be approximately an equal distance from the target when the ball leaves the strings.
Late String-to-ball Contact Point
A tennis stroke which positions the butt of your tennis racquet closer to the target than the tip of the racquet at the point of string-to-ball contact causes a late contact point.
A tennis stroke which positions the butt of your tennis racquet closer to the target than the tip of the racquet at the point of string-to-ball contact causes a late contact point.
Fix a wide error which has been caused by a too late contact by decreasing the amount of shoulder turn away from the net, this positions the tennis racquet so that the butt and tip of the racquet will be approximately an equal distance away from the target at the point of string-to-ball contact.
If the ball goes wide to the left, then adjust your shoulder turn more to the right to find an initial horizontal contact spot on the ball which is more to the left so that the ball will travel more to the right.
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If the ball goes wide to the right, then adjust your shoulder turn more to the left to find an initial horizontal contact spot on the ball which is more to the right so that the ball will travel more to the left.
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